Gumball/M&M Dispenser Plans

[Jim Eller]

Does anyone have any plans they are willing to share for building gumball/M&M dispensers?

Looking for grand-kids Christmas gifts.

Thanks,
Jim

[Dave Lehnert]

http://www.freegumballmachineplans.com/


http://www.freegumballmachineplans.com/images/GumballMachine.jpg

[Lee Schierer]

Here's a candy dispenser I made a number of years ago. The base is is 5 x 5 x 6" tall. It is made from red oak and black walnut. There is a kidney shaped hole in the second layer of the top near the front and a similar shaped hole that aligns with it in the walnut disk. Inside the base under the walnut disk there is another piece of oak with an opening at the back and a chute that leads down to the small catch tray at the front. Rotating the disk dispenses the contents.

I've never been big on gumballs, so I have often filled this dispenser with jelly beans or M&M's......Yeah I know it's empty, it is quite popular in my office.

[Jim Eller]

Lee,

Two questions:

1 Do you have a drawing(exploded view) of this.

2 Does it ever jam or mash the contents and if so, how do you clean it?

Somehow I thought there would be tons of suggestions on this post, but.....


Thanks,
Jim

[Lee Schierer]

Lee,

Two questions:

1 Do you have a drawing(exploded view) of this.

2 Does it ever jam or mash the contents and if so, how do you clean it?

Somehow I thought there would be tons of suggestions on this post, but.....


Thanks,
Jim
I don't have any drawings and it has never exploded that I know of...:D I figured it out as I went when I was making it.

Yes, it sometimes will mash the candy. If the hole in the disk were tapered upward on the trailing and leading edge of the hole, I think the mashing could be prevented. It does come apart by loosening four screws up through the corner posts from the bottom so you can clean it if needed.

Here are two more photos showing the various parts.

[Jim Eller]

Thanks Lee.

With me the picture and a 1000 words thing really fits.

Jim

[Dave Cav]

I thought you would get more responses, too. Here are a few pictures of a dispenser my dad made in his craft business. It's made of dimension lumber and a mason jar. The sliding bar simply has a hole in it to match the hole in the jar. You could make the bar thicker or the hole smaller to control portions. I suspect he plowed the groove in the top 2x4 for the slider with a dado head on a longer board and then crosscut off how ever many he needed, but I never saw him make them so I don't know for sure.


http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/th_resized_IMG_0729.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/?action=view&current=resized_IMG_0729.jpg)

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/th_resized_IMG_0730.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/?action=view&current=resized_IMG_0730.jpg)

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/th_resized_IMG_0731.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/sunshinenight/Gumball/?action=view&current=resized_IMG_0731.jpg)

[Jim Eller]

Thanks Dave.

I thought by now there would be two or three pages of pictures and suggestions. I guess folks just don't build 'em.

Jim

[Andrew Schlosser]

about 6 months ago, perhaps, Wood magazine published plans for a goose that dumped jelly beans out his rear end. unique....